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Magic: the Gathering: Cardboard Crack

Posts

Continuously referring to the last 12 months on a rolling basis. So if we had 32+ players at one of our our Dark Ascension prereleases, we wouldn't need to clear that hurdle again until the next January prerelease, but any subsequent 32+ player event moves that goal post accordingly. I'm not sure where/when the other requirements are checked (they could be tied to "since your last qualifying event," for all I know), but that's generally not been an issue to my knowledge.

We lost Advanced status briefly a while back (slightly pre-Scars) when we hadn't had a big event in a while, then regained it thanks to a prerelease breaking the barrier -- the Besieged "choose a side" thing was REALLY popular. It cost us our midnight prerelease (at the time Core stores could only schedule one event, and Advanced got two; I think that policy changed with Innistrad) and we didn't get the Skinrender Gateway promos, but that was all I noticed. Had we whiffed on that by the Dark Ascension events we would have only had one Helvault instead of two (and, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, would have had no chance at the "super" 'vault), so it can occasionally matter for more important things.

Things I want to fit in:
Counterspells? Probably negate?
Autmn's Veil (sideboard I guess, but what do I replace when I sideboard this in?)
Mutagenic Growth
Gut Shot (I can gut shot them, or gut shot my own creatures for +3/+3-1)
Into the void?

I have, in my Birthless Summoning deck (Heartless Summoning + Birthing Pod). The problem with Clone Shell is that anyone packing Doom Blade, Dismember, artifact destruction, or non-Gut Shot burn can kill it in response to the ETB trigger and force you to exile a card for no value; white decks can O-Ring it and blue decks can Vapor Snag it, getting you on the other end. I would always board it out for less risky/better threats and just wound up taking them out entirely to make room for Avacyn Restored stuff.

Yeah, cube is like a block draft on steroids. Take all the bombs from every set, put em in a shake n bake bag and have at 'er. If you weren't familiar with strong draft strategies to begin with, cube isn't the place to learn. Its a place to hone existing skills.

Planeswalkers are really good in cube. Even the bad ones like Venser and Elspeth Tirel are good. Just remember what kind of deck you're drafting. Don't be taking 6 mana walkers in an aggro deck, but they are great in control and ramp.

Just as a note, the Tom Martell and Conley Woods Cube draft videos on Channel Fireball, while amusing, are not what I would consider competent cube drafts. There are a lot of strong strategies in this cube, many of which are rooted in doing very mean things, but you really want to be focused on a specific goal and not just pick the best card in the pack (aka: the Tom Martell strategy of All Fixing). And yes, pretty much all of the PWs are awesome in this cube; the two Chandra and Sorin are probably the only ones that aren't early picks, but Elspeth, Knight Errant, Ajani V., and Karn are all snap picks.

Also, as with any format, start with Swiss queues to get a feel for your own deck building skills and to expose yourself to the kinds of decks to watch out for.

Yea, if you want to see how to really cube, watch LSV's old vids (where he forced RDW basically) or andrew cooperduperwhatever's from CFB.

Yeah, Cooperduperwhatever's draft is excellent with really solid commentary on why he's picking things, without seeming to contradict his every thought (like Martell). Simon Goertzen also did some excellent Cube streams, so maybe he has some Cube videos at MTGO Academy, otherwise just search his archives on twitch.

JTMS is definitely in there, Sam Black has a draft on his Twitch channel (twitch.tv/samuelhblack) where he opens him p1p1

I did my first cube yesterday, and managed to squeeeeeeze my way into splitting the finals. I drafted a rock-style GWB deck splashing red for Ajani Vengeant and the kicker on Thornscape(?) Battlemage.

I'm not sure I would have won r1g3 if my opponent didn't time out -- he had a strong blue/white control deck. I'd just wrathed the board, but he was about to drop an Ajani Goldmane I didn't have an answer to.

I won round two 2-1 against mono-red splashing Niv-Mizzet and Deep Analysis. Game 1 he locked me out with Rishadan Port, game 2 he got stuck on lands and a timely Strip Mine put him too far behind, and game 3 was one of the tightest games of Magic I've ever played. I made multiple plays that felt counter-intuitive (for me) but prevented him from burning me out before I could close the game with Baneslayer.

Stray observations: Strip Mine was insane every time I drew it, and Mirari's Wake was similarly insane every time it resolved.

Time for some TSP draft!

Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
Path of Exile: snowcrash7

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FeralThat's what I do. I drink, and I know things.Registered Userregular

I wish I still played with more people regularly. Building a cube for just 3 people feels like a lot of work, and I'm not sure it'd really be worth the effort.

btw, wth? Entreat the Angels has spiked like double or triple its value from the weekend practically overnight. Here I thought I'd gotten a mid level mythic. Apparently it's now in the top 5 for the set (granted, prerelease prices, so wonky as fuck, etc)

Forar on May 2012

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FeralThat's what I do. I drink, and I know things.Registered Userregular

Entreat is really mean in limited but I'm not seeing the constructed value. maybe somebody can enlighten me.

If we assume the current value of the card is due to competitive intentions, I believe the idea is that the U/W/x control decks are already willing to tap out, and the blowout opportunity of t5 Miracle'd Entreat is high enough that folks are willing to run two.

That said, I doubt it will stay that high, as I think a lot of players are overreacting to Cavern of Souls and the death of their counterspells. It's a cool card, and very powerful, but it's atypical for a non-permanent to retain that Planeswalker-level value these days.

Things I want to fit in:
Counterspells? Probably negate?
Autmn's Veil (sideboard I guess, but what do I replace when I sideboard this in?)
Mutagenic Growth
Gut Shot (I can gut shot them, or gut shot my own creatures for +3/+3-1)
Into the void?

Maybe wandering wolf in place of the Garruk's Companion? 1G and pseudo unblockable.

I've gone back and forth trying a combination of M12 tap lands but they can get clunky when all you're hitting those and Caverns in the early turns. I originally was going W/R, but wanted to work in Huntmaster somehow. Then it turned into G/W because of how solid the mana fixing and Gavony Township is, then morphed into this to accomodate Huntmaster, Bonfire and Zealous Conscripts.

My eyes keep wandering to the budgies and the things I could squeeze in there in the two slot if I didn't run them, but being able to skip to turn two Splicer or Borderland Ranger is really nice.